35TH CITY COUNCIL DISTRICT

The LocalLocal candidates for City Council are vying for Council Member Letitia James’ 35th district seat (Frank Richard Hurley not pictured).

City Council hopeful Laurie Cumbo scored two major labor endorsements recently in her bid to replace Council Member Letitia James in the 35th District, who is stepping down to run for Public Advocate.

On April 19, Service Employees International Union Local 32BJ, the country’s largest property service workers’ union, announced its endorsement of Ms. Cumbo. The news came a day after the New York Hotel Trade Council (HTC) voiced its support for her campaign. As the candidates make the rounds, the endorsements will give Ms. Cumbo a leg up in a field where candidates differ more in experience and connections than in policy.

“From paid sick leave to better access to healthcare, Ms. Cumbo is fighting for the issues that matter to our members,” union President Hector Figueroa said in a statement. “Not only does she serve as a living example of the pathway to the middle class that unions create, she has vowed to protect and preserve that pathway for others.”Read more…

Assemblyman Jeffries, who is preparing to take over for 15-term Congressman Ed Towns after winning a contentious June primary, endorsed Mr. Mosley as his replacement in the heavily Democratic 57th state Assembly District. Mr. Mosley’s victory in the three-way race, which all but assured him a seat in Albany, seemed to reaffirm Assemblyman Jeffries’ ability to turn out votes in Central Brooklyn, and boosted the credentials of a politician many consider to be a rising Democratic star, not just in Fort Greene and Clinton Hill, but across the borough.

Have you seen the white painted rollerblades hanging from a lamp post on the corner of Lafayette and Washington Avenues? We spotted them yesterday and are looking for any information you have on them, locals. Send tips to us at bklocal@nytimes.com.

Here are today’s news items:

The undercover officer who shot and killed 49-year-old Shem Walker in 2009 has yet to be questioned under oath, the New York Daily News reported. Mr. Walker tried to force the plainclothes cop off of his mother’s stoop in Fort Greene, unaware the officer was working on a drug bust. A scuffle ensued and the cop fatally shot Mr. Walker, an Army veteran, twice in the chest and once in the face. The delay in the criminal investigation has also stalled a wrongful death suit by Mr. Walker’s family, the paper reported.

The Barclays Center will soon be the only NBA arena to serve organic and gluten-free concessions, The Brooklyn Paper reported. Gluten-free beer and hot dogs, as well as organic pumpkin seeds, will be available at the stadium in an effort to meet the dietary needs and trends of the borough, the paper reported. “It’s great,” said Neal Harden, a vegan chef who serves gluten-free meals a few blocks from the Barclays Center. “Sports fans are more dynamic than people give them credit for.”

Patrick WallGeoffrey Davis stands in front of a picture of his brother James, a former City Councilman who was killed in 2003.

As a child, Geoffrey Davis counted on the laughter of his older brother James to cheer him up or calm him down. He still relies on that today. The only difference now is that when he hears James laugh, it’s in his dreams.

Seven years after City Councilman James E. Davis was shot and killed by a political rival inside New York’s City Hall, Geoffrey Davis, 47, has dedicated his life to his brother’s legacy. He runs a small charitable foundation and museum devoted to his brother, who was an outspoken peace activist and community organizer before he was elected to represent District 35 — which includes Clinton Hill and Fort Greene, as well as parts of Crown Heights, Prospect Heights, and Bed-Stuy — on City Council.

Tonight, Mr. Davis will show “Murder At City Hall,” a short documentary he made using news clips and interviews with his late brother, at Tribeca Cinemas in Manhattan.

“You can kill the flesh,” Mr. Davis said recently, sitting in front of a framed photograph of James being sworn in at City Hall. “But you can’t kill an idea.”

With 65 percent of Brooklyn precincts reporting as of 10 p.m., City Councilman Al Vann is holding a commanding lead over challenger Mark Winston Griffith in the 36th District: 7,574 votes to 3,709, according to the Board of Elections. That works out to 67 percent to 33 percent.

In the 35th District, Letitia James is outpolling her Republican opponent, Stuart A. Balberg, by more than 10 to 1 — 14,893 to 1,214, to be exact.
We’ll update when we know more.

In the last question of our virtual debate, the candidates for the 35th District City Council seat are asked: Who do you think you are?

Here are the responses of City Councilwoman Letitia James and challenger Medhanie Estiphanos, again unedited. And as the debate ends, it still lacks responses from challenger Delia Hunley-Adossa, who has declined to provide answers to the dozen questions culled from the suggestions of The Local’s readers.

What relevant experience do you bring to the job that will make you a suitable member of the city council? Why should people vote for you? In the case of the incumbent, what can you do to improve on your current performance? [from BklynBorn]

Here is the last of our three profiles of the 35th District City Council candidates. They are hardly comprehensive or authoritative but, for those registered Democrats out there who have yet to decide how to vote in Tuesday’s primary, they may serve as reminders on where the candidates stand. Or say they do.

Medhanie Estiphanos.

He’s got California-green ideas, Obama-era optimism and expresses a strong distaste for the political machinations of his two competitors.

Medhanie Estiphanos, a 33-year-old former financial analyst from San Diego, is running against Delia Hunley-Adossa and the incumbent, Letitia James, for the 35th District City Council seat, and against New York City “politics-as-usual,” he says.

Mr. Estiphanos, a newcomer to local politics who is running his campaign out of a cramped room in the back of a real estate office on Classon Avenue, has strong opinions about the city government’s handling of education, mass transit and affordable housing, among other issues.

What he does not have is party support or money. He raised just $7,000 for his campaign, he said, which does not qualify him for matching public campaign funds, and admits he is tapping out $5,000 of his own funds (the legal limit stipulated by campaign finance rules).

Nevertheless, Mr. Estiphanos pushes forward, arguing for change with passion and enthusiasm, while denouncing the way politics is played in New York.

A candidate’s position on other elections can tell a lot about his or her own politics and alliances. Here are the responses of City Councilwoman Letitia James and challenger Medhanie Estiphanos — cut and pasted, without edits — to a political question from a reader. Delia Hunley-Adossa, another challenger, did not provide answers to the questions posed in our week-long virtual debate.

Which candidates do you support in the citywide races (mayor, comptroller, public advocate) and why? [from Norman Oder]

Here is the second of our three profiles of the 35th District City Council candidates. They are hardly comprehensive or authoritative but, for the few of you registered Democrats out there who have yet to decide how to vote in Tuesday’s primary, they may serve as reminders on where the candidates stand. Or say they do.

Delia Hunley-Adossa.

It’s the elephant in the room, so let’s say it right up front: The non-profit organization run by Delia Hunley-Adossa, the leading primary challenger to City Councilwoman Letitia James, has accepted somewhere in the area of $400,000 from Forest City Ratner, the developer behind the Atlantic Yards project.

Ms. Hunley-Adossa, 52, whose friends call her “Dee,” makes no apologies for her nonprofit group, Brooklyn Endeavor Experience — an entity distinct from herself and from her campaign — accepting the money.

“Yes, I have taken and I have gotten money on behalf of the developer to give back to the community,” said Ms. Hunley-Adossa, a first-time contender for public office. “I could be cited for that, and I will do it again and again.”

Ms. Hunley-Adossa said the money, given to B.E.E. by Forest City as part of the Atlantic Yards Community Benefits Agreement it entered into with local nonprofits, has been invested back into the neighborhoods, sometimes to correct damage she said was caused by Forest City Ratner’s own projects.

Earlier this year City Councilwoman Letitia James came under fire when it was learned that she owed more than $9,000 in property taxes on her brownstone on Lafayette Avenue in Clinton Hill. She has paid almost all of the balance, but the matter of personal finances is one that has tripped up many a candidate for office or appointee.

And so a reader asks of all the candidates: Are you paid up?

Here are the unedited responses from Ms. James and challenger Medhanie Estiphanos. (The campaign manager for the third candidate, Delia Hunley-Adossa, has said she is too busy campaigning to respond to the questions in our week-long virtual debate.)

Are you up to date on all your taxes?[from fincastle]Would you release your income tax returns?[from Andy Newman]

The city Department of Transportation’s controversial Citi Bike bike-sharing program, which put 600 bike racks on the streets of Fort Greene and Clinton Hill, has residents up in arms. But kiosks are not coming down, New York City Council Member Letitia James told more than 100 neighborhood residents at a raucous town hall meeting last night.

Get news about Fort Greene and Clinton Hill in our daily roundup, including the Brooklyn Academy of Music’s summer slate of youth-oriented programs and the third annual Art of Brooklyn Film Festival coming to St. Joseph’s College in Clinton Hill.

In today’s daily post, you’ll find news on the spring opening of the Fort Greene Artisan Market, a Pratt Institute student artwork display at a Gagosian Gallery in Manhattan and a new recording studio in the nabe.

In this crime report, locals told police that their belongings were stolen from cars and trucks, their homes were burglarized and their bank accounts were used in unauthorized ways. Also, disputes between significant others resulted in violence and robberies last week. The trend of robberies on the B38 bus continued last week, with another incident on May 4 marking the tenth such robbery in the precinct this year so far.

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